Couple sentances stick out that I think I'll pass on to the group, cause some of you haven't read it.
…These densely packed, baroque stories repay several readings for there hard-edged, gloomy passion and intensely realized detail.
Take note of that sentance there people. That is -ULTRA- important. That right there is the -essence- of cyberpunk culture. Densely packed and baroque. Hard edged, gloomy, passionate, and hyper-real.
That is cyberpunk culture. That is the -WORLD- you play in. Baroque. VERY VERY Baroque. Here is some examples of what Baroque period of art:
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/m/manfredi/index.html
TAKE NOTE OF THIS! Note how -dark- the subject matter actually is. Note how -MELANCHOLIC- it is. This stuff is from around 1610! (Bit early for propper baroque, but look!!)
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/watteau/i/gersaint.jpg
This one is late Baroque, early Rococo. NOTE THE FASHION! NOTE THE COOL CALM ATTITUDE in the people, note the DIVISION between classes and social groups. NOTE THE FASHION! The fashions are flare-filled and potent, of utmost importance!
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rubens/
Take a look at the content. HYPER religious, HYPER violent. When ever it is done, what ever is done, it is done hard, and edged, and as powerful as possible.
Cyberpunk is -BASED- on that sort of activity. That hardness, that crazy melencholy and insane bubblyness that sometimes comes out of the Baroque. The really ornate, heavily gilded society of the rich and the massively poor that ultimately resulted in the French Revolution. -THAT- is cyberpunk. Society constantly heading towards revolution.
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…Rather than the passionless techies and rock-ribbed Competent Men of hard SF, his characters [Gibson] are a pirate's crew of losers, hustlers, spin-offs, castoffs, and lunatics. We see his future from the belly up, as it is lived…
Need I say more? You, my fellow players and friends, are the Jack Sparrows and Black-eyed-Pete's of the future. Be yee mixer, or be yee corporate lap dog. You all hustle, push, and pull for it. What ever it is. Be it getting the Black Pearl back, or hacking that other fellahs mainframe, or just staying alive.
Wise words from Bruce Sterling on Gibson's work.
Look at those art works, they'll give you a wee bit of insite into the nature of CP, even if they are over 300-400 years old. People ain't changed that much since the Baroque period, and in 2088, I'm betting things won't have changed all that much from now.
